Advertisement

Abstract

Food security is a growing concern worldwide. More than 1 billion people are estimated to lack sufficient dietary energy availability, and at least twice that number suffer micronutrient deficiencies. Because indicators inform action, much current research focuses on improving food insecurity measurement. Yet estimated prevalence rates and patterns remain tenuous because measuring food security, an elusive concept, remains difficult.

Get full access to this article

View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.

Supplementary Material

File (825.mp3)

References and Notes

2
C. B. Barrett, E. C. Lentz, in International Studies Compendium Project, R. A. Denemark et al., Eds. (Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, 2010).
3
C. B. Barrett, in Handbook of Agricultural Economics, B. L. Gardner, G. C. Rausser, Eds. (Elsevier Science, Amsterdam, 2002), vol. 2B.
4
Webb P., et al., Measuring household food insecurity: Why it’s so important and yet so difficult to do.J. Nutr. 136, 1404S (2006).
5
Dasgupta P., Nutritional status, the capacity for work, and poverty traps. J. Econom. 77, 5 (1997).
6
R. W. Fogel, The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death, 1700-2100: Europe, America, and the Third World (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 2004).
7
A. Sen, in Poverty and Famines (Clarendon, Oxford, 1981), p. 1; emphasis in original.
8
Maxwell D. G., Measuring food insecurity: The frequency and severity of “coping strategies”. Food Policy 21, 291 (1996).
9
Arimond M., Ruel M. T., Dietary diversity is associated with child nutritional status: Evidence from 11 demographic and health surveys.J. Nutr. 134, 2579 (2004).
10
Age-and-sex-group-specific minimum energy requirements are set by a joint United Nations University/World Health Organization/Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations expert consultation summarized in FAO/UNU/WHO, Human Energy Requirements (FAO, Rome, 2004).
11
FAO, Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security (FAO, Rome, 2005).
12
One recent, limited exception is Mude et al. (30).
13
FAO, More people than ever are victims of hunger (2009); accessed 9 November 2009 at www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/newsroom/docs/Press%20release%20june-en.pdf.
14
S. Shapouri et al., Food Security Assessment, 2008-9 Outlook GFA-20 (USDA Economic Research Service, Washington, DC, 2009).
15
FAO, Food Security Statistics, accessed 27 December 2009 at www.fao.org/economic/ess/food-security-statistics/en/.
16
G. Bickel, M. Nord, C. Price, W. Hamilton, J. Cook, Guide to Measuring Household Food Security, Revised 2000 (USDA Food and Nutrition Service, Alexandria, VA, 2000).
17
L. C. Smith et al., Food Insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa (International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC, 2006).
18
Frongillo E. A., Nanama S., Development and validation of an experience-based measure of household food insecurity within and across seasons in northern Burkina Faso. J. Nutr. 136, 1409S (2006).
19
S. Chantarat, C. B. Barrett, A. G. Mude, C. G.Turvey, Am. J. Agric. Econ. 89, 1262 (2007).
20
FAO, The State of Food and Agriculture 2006: Food Aid for Food Security? (FAO, Rome, 2006).
21
National Research Council, Measuring Food Insecurity and Hunger, Phase 1 Report (National Academies Press, Washington, DC, 2005).
22
Darnton-Hill I., et al., Micronutrient deficiencies and gender: Social and economic costs.Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 81, 1198S (2005).
23
World Health Organization, Vitamin and Mineral Nutrition Information System (VMNIS), www.who.int/vmnis/en/.
24
S. Horton, H. Alderman, J. Rivera, Copenhagen Consensus 2008 Challenge Paper: Malnutrition and Hunger, www.copenhagenconsensus.com/The_10_challenges/Malnutrition_and_Hunger-1.aspx.
25
World Bank, Repositioning Nutrition as Central to Development (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006).
26
C. B. Barrett, D. G. Maxwell, Food Aid After Fifty Years (Routledge, London, 2005).
27
World Food Programme, Emergency Food Security Assessment Handbook (WFP, Rome, 2009).
28
Carter M. R., Barrett C. B., The economics of poverty traps and persistent poverty: An asset-based approach. J. Dev. Stud. 42, 178 (2006).
29
Science Council, Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, Stripe Review of Social Sciences in the CGIAR (CGIAR Science Council, Rome, 2009), www.sciencecouncil.cgiar.org/fileadmin/user_upload/sciencecouncil/Systemwide_and_Ecoregional_Programs/SSSR_for_web.pdf. On the National Science Foundation’s Long-Term Ecological Research Network, see www.lternet.edu/.
30
A. G. Mude, C. B. Barrett, J. G. McPeak, R. Kaitho, P. Kristjanson, Food Policy 34, 329 (2009).
31
S. Chen, M. Ravallion, The Developing World Is Poorer Than We Thought, But No Less Successful in the Fight against Poverty (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008).
32
FAO, The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2009 (FAO, Rome, 2009).
33
International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, World Disasters Report (IFRCRCS, Geneva, various years).
34
FAO, FAOStat accessed 9 November 2009 at www.fao.org/economic/ess/food-security-statistics/en/.

(0)eLetters

eLetters is a forum for ongoing peer review. eLetters are not edited, proofread, or indexed, but they are screened. eLetters should provide substantive and scholarly commentary on the article. Embedded figures cannot be submitted, and we discourage the use of figures within eLetters in general. If a figure is essential, please include a link to the figure within the text of the eLetter. Please read our Terms of Service before submitting an eLetter.

Log In to Submit a Response

No eLetters have been published for this article yet.

Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Science
Volume 327 | Issue 5967
12 February 2010

Submission history

Published in print: 12 February 2010

Permissions

Request permissions for this article.

Acknowledgments

A. Agrawal, J. Hoddinott, E. Lentz, P. Pinstrup-Andersen, R. Stoltzfus, P. Timmer, P. Wilde, and P. Webb made helpful comments on an earlier draft. V. Palladino provided excellent research assistance.

Authors

Affiliations

Christopher B. Barrett* [email protected]
Department of Applied Economics and Management, Warren Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853–7801, USA.

Notes

*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: [email protected]

Metrics & Citations

Metrics

Article Usage

Altmetrics

Citations

Cite as

Export citation

Select the format you want to export the citation of this publication.

Cited by

  1. Determinants of Household Food Security during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Indonesia, Sustainability, 15, 5, (4131), (2023).https://doi.org/10.3390/su15054131
    Crossref
  2. Sustainable Path of Food Security in China under the Background of Green Agricultural Development, Sustainability, 15, 3, (2538), (2023).https://doi.org/10.3390/su15032538
    Crossref
  3. Household Food Insufficiency and Chronic Pain among Children in the US: A National Study, Children, 10, 2, (185), (2023).https://doi.org/10.3390/children10020185
    Crossref
  4. Determining vulnerable households and food groups sensitive to price and income increase from the perspective of food security: Evidence from Iran, Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 7, (2023).https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1161040
    Crossref
  5. Interstate war and food security: Implications from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 7, (2023).https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1080696
    Crossref
  6. Segurança alimentar e liberalização comercial do mercado de alimentos: uma revisão sistemática, Revista de Economia e Sociologia Rural, 61, 3, (2023).https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9479.2022.256624
    Crossref
  7. Food insecurity status and its contributing factors in slums’ dwellers of southwest Iran, 2021: a cross-sectional study, Archives of Public Health, 81, 1, (2023).https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-023-01049-8
    Crossref
  8. Food Insecurity in Latin America: Proposals Linked to Sustainable Management in COVID-19 Times, Sustainable Management in COVID-19 Times, (123-135), (2023).https://doi.org/10.1108/S1877-636120230000030018
    Crossref
  9. Fuel–food nexus in urban areas: evidence from Burkina Faso, Oxford Development Studies, (1-17), (2023).https://doi.org/10.1080/13600818.2023.2183943
    Crossref
  10. Food insecurity predicts well-being inequality, Preventive Medicine, 167, (107407), (2023).https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2022.107407
    Crossref
  11. See more
Loading...

View Options

Check Access

Log in to view the full text

AAAS ID LOGIN

AAAS login provides access to Science for AAAS Members, and access to other journals in the Science family to users who have purchased individual subscriptions.

Log in via OpenAthens.
Log in via Shibboleth.

More options

Purchase digital access to this article

Download and print this article for your personal scholarly, research, and educational use.

Purchase this issue in print

Buy a single issue of Science for just $15 USD.

View options

PDF format

Download this article as a PDF file

Download PDF

Full Text

FULL TEXT

Media

Figures

Multimedia

Tables

Share

Share

Share article link

Share on social media